Anatomy of a Cheese Board

‘Tis the season for picnicking! If you’re like us, you will eat a lot of meals outdoors now that the weather is cooperating – from outdoor concerts, to picnic lunches, to playground snacks. One thing we love for these sort of occasions is a cheese board. And a well constructed cheese board is one of my very favorite things. In my opinion, the perfect cheese board should have at least 2 varieties of cheese (really 3 is best but that depends on how many people are dining), a salty meat, fruit, crackers and/or bread. Some people like olives too but since I’m the only olive-lover in our house I don’t put those on the cheese board.

I used to throw some things together on our large Boos Board until a friend of mine gave me a slate cheese board for Christmas and ooooh, how I had always wanted one! If you’ve ever been to a party at our house you know I’m pro labeling appetizers when we put them out so no one is guessing what anything is. So what is better than to put your cheese right on a board that you can write all over! The cheese board in these photos was for a naptime lunch for my husband and I. We had an herbed soft cheese and a semi-hard cheese with fig jam to top. I included a flavorful cracker and a more plain cracker for the herbed cheese. A tiny bit of salty salami and a generous pile of fresh strawberries.

By the way, if you get one, your slate board will probably come with chalk to use but I prefer one of these chalk board makers for a sharper look.